What would life be like for a Christian family without the church?

Dr. Joel Beeke presents a thought-provoking scenario about the absence of the church in a believer's life. He explains that while a family might focus on homeschooling and keeping children away from worldly influences, they would miss out on the communal aspect of faith. The church plays a crucial role in providing a larger family context, where worship at home is supported and enriched by public worship. The church serves as a model for family worship, helping families pattern their devotion after public gatherings.

Dr. Beeke emphasizes the nurturing role of the church, likening it to a mother who nourishes her children with the Word of God. According to John Calvin, the church is instrumental in catechizing and teaching children, allowing them to witness God-fearing people and the building up of God's kingdom. The church offers both negative and positive guidance for raising children: teaching them to flee the world and encouraging them to embrace truth. Without the positive influence of the church, children may only see faith as restrictive, potentially leading to rebellion.

Hebrews 10:25 (NKJV): "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

So let's say there was no church. Let's say you homeschooled your family and you did a pretty good job, but there was no church. Your children never met really other believing children. Well, how impoverished your whole family would be. You'd become like a little nuclear family, a be-all and a do-all to yourself.

If you kept your kids away from worldly influences like you're supposed to do, they'd have a bit of a stilted life, wouldn't they? But the church opens them up to the larger family. And you need, Dad, You need the worship of the church to buttress your worship at home and more than buttress it The church is your pattern your model your family worship should be like a little mini church service a little more informal Of course, and there'd be a little more laughter and things like that. But you're patterning your family worship in a way after the public worship. You're worshiping God in your family.

And so it's critical, in my opinion, the role the church has to play John Calvin said God is our father, but when we raise God for in families The church is like our mother Nourishing us. In fact, Calvin even uses some pretty graphic language. He says unless the church is like a mother who nourishes her children with the food that God miraculously provides for her to do that, so the church provides, As Peter says, the sincere milk of the word by which the children grow up under the truth. So the church is catechizing our children, it's teaching our children, the children get to see the God-fearing people in the church. You know, we're pilgrims in the earth, but in the church, you see the building, the dwelling, the planting, and the building up of the kingdom of God is present and alive and our children need that.

So when we raise our children, we do so negatively and positively. Negatively we tell them flee the world. Positively we bring them to the house of God and say be like this, follow this truth and when you only have the negative it's an incomplete life and often if you don't have the positive children will turn against it, rebel against it. This is all negative. But the church can give so much positive influence in their life.

The friendships at church, the fellowship at church, the teaching of the church. The church is a tremendous friend of the family.